Tree of Life Mama’s tabletop game of the week is Oh the Places You’ll Go! board game, based on the picture book of the same name by Dr. Seuss.

I found this at a thrift store for $5! What a deal! In this game, you roll and draw cards. Then you place the two cards in the two slots in the holder, as pictured below. You show the other players the two choices and read them aloud. Then you vote what your answer would be: “A” or “B,” with your chip facing down, without showing your other players what you voted. Other players try to guess what you voted by picking their “A” or “B” chip, and place it face down. Then you have the big reveal and everybody shows what he or she just voted. If the chips match you, you get to keep the card. Players who guess correctly get rewarded as well.

The goal is to get four cards that fit exactly to make a “Life Path,” where the lines join together. See below. The first one to get four cards fitting exactly wins.

It’s definitely not a show-stopper, like Legendary Marvel or Gloomhaven, but I like it! Even though Dr. Seuss is no longer PC, I still like it. Look at these adorable pawns!

The game only has 5.3 out of 10 on boardgamegeek.com, but I give it 7 out of 10. It’s not a 10 for me because I think the design of the path and all the other drawings on the board combine to be be just a bit too busy for me. So I would pare down the design, and then I would improve the mechanics somehow so that there’s less downtime waiting to get cards. I think when we played it last time we used two dice to move faster. (Next time we play Clue I’m insisting we get to choose to roll up to three dice each roll, too, LOL.)

Not only do you have to roll the dice to get cards, but you also have to have the right colored “Question Ticket” that matches the color of the space you land on. In fact, maybe next time we play I’ll just dispense with the board, the dice and the Question Tickets. We’ll just take turns drawing cards and voting. The questions are wonderfully thought-provoking and great conversation starters. It’s a lot of fun to read aloud the cards in the path card-holder thing, hearing how your choices fit in the sentence, at the end of the game.

I pulled this game out a few months ago after my mom and I went on a mother-daughter date to an art museum. It was the perfect “dessert” activity for our “entree” museum outing. After walking around, it was wonderful to come home on a wintry day. We sat down with some herbal tea, then played this with my two youngest children. It’s a game that you would want to play with close friends and family, as it requires knowing a bit about the other players in order to succeed. In fact, maybe I’ll take it to my next girlfriends’ retreat. People who hardly know each other would have to be good sports to enjoy playing it. If you have someone graduating from high school or college this spring, it would be the perfect game to celebrate, with close friends and family, after you read aloud the picture book of course.